Intensifying audit competition, increasing audit quality standards, and rising demand for audit services have prompted accounting firms across the nation to adopt new methods to meet client and industry demands while not overextending audit staff or raising audit prices. The use of offshoring to utilize a global workplace has allowed firms to maintain their competitiveness and expand to new markets to creatively respond to the industry demand. While offshoring is not something new on the global scale, the auditing practice was a late arrival to this practice, especially when compared to manufacturing industries or even the tax practice within the accounting industry. This study examines the effect of offshoring on the delivery of audit services and audit staff involved in providing audit services.
Primary and secondary research was conducted to gain an in-depth look at these trends and their impact on the local and global audit work environment. Interviews with industry leaders provided insight into their teams’ offshoring use and the effects it has had on the way they conduct business. Secondary research uncovered larger trends that the accounting industry has undergone or foresees in the near future. The two were joined to explain the common trends, the causes and effects of these trends, and the benefits and drawbacks industry leaders perceive as they increase their use of offshoring. Offshoring reduces audit costs and also increases audit efficiency by allowing use of additional audit staff in other global time zones. However, offshoring alters the type of work done in the United States, and also changes the responsibilities of first-year audit staff
